These are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.
OUR SNOOPING TREASURY – When the list of those who requested the unmasking of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was released on May 8, 2020, I noted the name of President Obama’s Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew on the list, not once, but twice. Also listed was an acting assistant secretary of the Treasury, an acting deputy secretary of Treasury, a deputy secretary of Treasury, an under secretary of Treasury and an acting undersecretary of Treasury. Big government.
I have chosen not to include their names, because they are people who have not been in the news. Curiously, all of the unmaskings by those individuals were made on December 14, 2016, leading one to believe there was a high-level meeting about Flynn that day.
One of them was Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Sarah Raskin, who happens to be the wife of Rep. Jamin B. Raskin (D-MD), one of the House prosecutors who argued for the removal of Trump after his impeachment. Incidentally, she was once appointed Federal Reserve governor by Obama. Obama’s Deep State in action.
Why Treasury, I wondered. I assumed they were looking for evidence of money exchanged from Russia or Turkey, with whom Flynn represented as a lobbyist prior to Trump’s election.
In my research, I learned that Obama’s Treasury Department regularly surveilled Flynn’s financial records and transactions beginning in December 2015 and well into 2017, “before, during and after he served at the White House as President Donald Trump’s National Security Director,” according to Neil McCabe, a Washington-based writer for The Ohio Star. McCabe was given the information by a former senior Treasury official and a veteran of the intelligence community.
By March 2016 his source was convinced that the surveillance of Flynn “was not tied to legitimate criminal or national security concerns, but was straight-up political surveillance.”
In past editions, I’ve told you about Obama’s dislike for Flynn. When a president is unhappy with someone, there are those who are willing to step in and do his dirty work, just as Eric Holder did with Fast and Furious and the IRS scandal.
The snooping on Flynn was handled out of Treasury’s Office of Intelligence Analysis. Treasury should never have been part of the unmasking of Flynn. The Justice Department never gave approval to the Treasury program.
JUST THE BEGINNING – American Thinker’s Thomas Lifson believes the news of the Flynn unmaskings is just the beginning.
“The key message is that for years the Obama administration was mining the incomparable database of the National Security Agency (NSA), which captured virtually all electronic communications – emails, text messages, everything – launched into the ether. The potential for abuse is breathtaking,” he wrote
Barack Obama, he says, used this surveillance as an insurance policy for ensuring that he was able to track the opposition and remove – or prepare to remove – anyone who looked like a risk. “Once Obama was in his second term,” Lifson writes, the administration was in a position to consolidate power for a permanent Democrat government class,” part of his effort to “fundamentally transform” America.
“My best guess,” writes Lifson, “is that we’re going to discover that Obama had teams of faceless drones (like the Treasury minions above) searching through that enormous NSA stockpile of data for information about every Republican, who may be a threat to a permanent Democrat presidency.”
DON’T FRET over Attorney General Bill Barr’ statement that he didn’t see U. S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation leading to criminal charges against Barack Obama or Joe Biden. I reported here earlier that I didn’t see that in the cards, but Obama and Biden will not escape accountability.
CHANGES IN SPACE – I hope you will excuse this departure from my reporting on the political scene.
In my 32 years in the aerospace business, I saw many changes, from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the Shuttle in manned flight, to complex satellites designed for unbelievable missions. I saw Americans, once in awe with our achievements, become disinterested. Another shuttle mission? Ho-hum.
THE X-37B SPACE PLANE (USAF photo)
Since retiring in 2000, I saw the nation’s space program undergo a number of changes that were of concern to me. The cancellation of the Space Shuttle program made us dependent on Russia for transporting our astronauts to and from the International Space Station with a one-way cost of $70 million. It has worked out okay, but I feared that it would sacrifice our leadership in space.
I have been extremely impressed with the new rocket launch capability that has been developed with private sector companies, and I have been particularly excited about the Space X Falcon 9 reusable rocket that returns and lands upright.
President Trump is breathing new life into our space program. Last December, he signed a document creating the U.S. Space Force, and last week the new organization’s flag was unveiled for posting in the Oval Office. Typical of the president, he hinted of a “super-duper missile” without going into any detail.
X-37B RETURNS from a 22-month mission. (collectspace)
This past weekend, the Space Force launched its X-37B spaceplane on its sixth mission. The unmanned, reusable space craft has spent nearly eight years in space over five missions. I would wager that few of you were aware of the X-37B.
The current mission is for testing a solar power system that beams energy to earth with a laser.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
